Chen approves new 'Taiwan' passports

Chen approves new 'Taiwan' passports

Agence France-Presse, Taipei

President Chen Shui-bian said on Sunday he had given the go-ahead to add "Taiwan" to local passports, a move expected to compound Beijing's fears that the island is seeking independence.

Chen said he felt the new policy was necessary to distinguish Taiwan from arch foe Beijing in the international community.

Currently passports refer to the island as "the Republic of China (ROC)," the name given to China in 1912 by nationalist leader Dr. Sun Yat Sen and then transferred to Taiwan after the nationalists were defeated in a civil war in 1949.

But Chen said this was too similar to the People's Republic of China (PRC) which is how mainland China is currently known to the outside world.

"The Republic of China passports were often mistaken for the People's Republic of China passports," Chen, from the pro- independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) told a group of Taiwanese who were visiting from the United States.

"While we know the difference, foreigners may not be able to tell the difference," he said.

"We feel we have lost face on this. So we feel we cannot let the mix-up continue."

"So here I want to tell you that on Friday I formally approved the proposal presented by the foreign ministry," Chen said, without going into detail.

The nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) last year lost its grip on power for the first time to Chen's pro-independence DPP.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Chang Siao-yue said details of the passport alteration had not yet been fixed.

"But the national title ROC will by no means be changed," she told AFP, adding that the change would also "comply with international precedents".

Local newspapers had said the ministry would print the name "Taiwan" separate from "the Republic of China" rather than side- by-side, as had originally been planned, so as to prevent a mix- up.

They said if the word "Taiwan" was added next to "the Republic of China" on the passport, the ministry feared foreigners could easily mistake Taiwan as being part of China.

Beijing considers Taiwan a renegade province awaiting reunification and has threatened to take it by force should the island ever declare independence or foot-drag over reunification talks.

The Taipei government, however, insists on independent sovereignty.

Despite assurances that the passport change was not a step toward independence, Chen's remarks drew a backlash from pro- reunification opposition parties.

Chang Hsien-yao, an official from the People First Party (PFP), which favors eventual reunification with the mainland said the statement was "a show of the political motivation of Taiwan independence".

Feng Hu-hsiang, a legislator from the pro-reunification New Party, joined PFP's Chang is threatening to cut the foreign ministry's budget by some 100 million Taiwan dollars (US$2.9 million) in a parliament session on Wednesday.

Zhang Mingqing, spokesman of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, had slammed the passport alteration when it was mooted in December.

"This shows that the Taiwan authorities are moving step by step toward independence," he said.

"We will maintain vigilance and observe what kind of steps (Taiwan's authorities) will take," Zhang told reporters.

Semi-official talks between Taipei and Beijing have been frozen since 1999, when the then Taiwan president Lee Teng-hui said the island's ties with the mainland should be seen as "state-to-state".

Beijing has declined to resume dialog with Taipei unless it accepts the "one China principle," under which Taiwan is considered a part of China. Chen has already rejected this precondition.